1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle such as an electric skateboard which detects a load applied from the rider.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, electric skateboards, electric wheelchairs, electric carts and so on are known as motor-driven small electric vehicles. These electric vehicles detect a load applied to the vehicle and generate a propelling force based on the load. The vehicles are operated by manually controlling a throttle, a joystick and so on thereby performing operation such as speed and acceleration control, forward/reverse shift, turning signals and steering, etc. (See Patent Document 1, for example).
Also, there have been proposals to provide the board with pressure sensors and strain sensors for controlling driving directions and speed (See Patent Documents 2 and 3, for example)
[Patent Document 1] JP-A 2000-140190
[Patent Document 2] JP-A 2003-237670
[Patent Document 3] JP-A 10-23613
However, according to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, the rider's position on the vehicle is limited, operation is complex, and therefore, the rider tends to be preoccupied with the operation during the ride. Also, if the board is provided with sensors as suggested in Patent Documents 2 and 3, the load applied by the rider is distributed to positions which are located outside of the range of detection by the sensors, making it difficult to detect the load properly to control the vehicle. If the load is to be detected accurately in such a case, the number of sensors must be increased accordingly, resulting in increased cost.